Bruins-Canadiens at TDG

The Bruins had no response of any kind for the Montreal Canadiens, and had the Bruins not been on such a strong consistent piece of their season, this performance would have been troubling.

A flurry of activity and closed the gap to 2-1, only to give it back with some poor puck decisions. Once Brian Gionta chased Tuukka Rask with that powerplay goal midway through the second period, it was lights out. Nearly half a game to go and lights out.

It’s a rare night when the Bruins get beat by the Montreal Canadiens and don’t push back.

“Yeah, I mean basically everything, execution and our heads weren’t into it. They deserved to win,” said Patrice Bergeron. “We didn’t play anywhere near where we need to play to have success in this league. Yeah, I would say from what I remember, the worst game of the year.”

That said, Bergeron said that the Bruins won’t let this loss haunt them.

“It’s a game, right? So obviously it’s not the type of game that we usually play and we want to play against them, and it was a big game even for the standings,” he said. “They’re a team that’s in our division, but that being said we didn’t execute and we didn’t get the result.”

Boston coach Claude Julien categorized three problem areas for the Bruins to address Friday in practice: “We didn’t skate well tonight, we didn’t make good decisions, and we didn’t execute well. When you’ve got none of those things you’re not going to win too many hockey games. So, that was absent in our game tonight and we certainly didn’t pick a good night to play that kind of game, but the results are from a lack of those three things.”

On the matter of complacency: “Well you hope it’s just a one-game thing and hopefully the answer will come on Saturday. But, at the same time, when you score six goals three consecutive games and then you meet a team like Montreal, (they’re) going to be pretty stingy and played us tight, you realize that those goals don’t come that easily. So, again, I’m just looking at seeing our team bounce back on Saturday and move on.”

FIRST PERIOD

The Montreal Canadiens can play like donkey dung for half a season and still put up a Cup-contending performance against the Boston Bruins. In fairness to the Habs, they did shut out Carolina in their last game, so coming out strong for this one was no surprise. At the same time, though, the Bruins played the first few shifts like one of those sleep-in Saturday matinees against Edmonton — oh wait, that’s this Saturday.

Alexei Emelin fired home the game’s first goal at 2:16 of the opening period, as George Parros set a screen on Tuukka Rask. Danny Briere assisted.

The Bruins awoke and dominated the next few shifts, but Matt Bartkowski missed the mark on an open look.
Brad Marchand crosschecked Michael Bournival, but the Bruins killed the penalty.

Chris Kelly then created chances for Loui Eriksson and Torey Krug, and Krug missed a close call on a bang-bang play around the Montreal net.

Reilly Smith charged up the middle with the puck and Dougie Hamilton wound up with a chance. Peter Budak made the save, and on Hamilton’s rebound putback and then another.

The Bruins dug themselves a two-goal hole when Daniel Paille, on his off wing, made a nice play to give the defense and outlet and get the puck into the attacking zone. But he got too ambitious in attempting to feed the puck all the way across to the left point.

David Desharnais picked off the pass and immediately transitioned it to Brian Gionta, who sent Max Pacioretty down the left wing. With a step on Johnny Boychuk, Pacioretty swooped in an five-holed his backhand under Rask at 14:57, 2-0 Canadiens.

Boston finally got on the board when Eriksson, who had taken a beating in puck battles on the shift, held the puck at the halfwall before banking it back to Hamilton. David Krejci went to the net, and Hamilton’s off-target shot hit Andrei Markov and in at 15:38.

Brad Marchand ran over Markov at the right point as the siren sounded, and the Habs weren’t happy.

Inside of a half hour from pregame skate … high above rinkside at TDG …

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No matter how much changes in our world, certain phrases have the power to alter body chemistry, energize a day, bring the kind of nervous energy you like.

From Ali-Frazier to Celtics-Lakers to Red Sox-Yankees to Brady-Manning, we finally have Bruins-Canadiens here in Boston. It’s long overdue, but in a bizarre twist, Carey Price will sit and Peter Budaj will start.

“You know what, we prepare a schedule monthly, and even after that we go every week. Me and (goalie coach) Stephane (Waite), we talk about it because we have to maintain the energy, physically and mentally, to Carey Price. And we’ve got four games this week in six days so this is important for us, you know, to make sure Carey is sharp physically and mentally, and Carey played a lot of hockey so we decided to go with Peter tonight,” said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien.

“Prepare for what?!” you may scream at this juncture, but Price played the last eight games for the Canadiens, allowing 21 goals in the prior five games before shutting out the Hurricanes on Tuesday. And twice Therrien pulled him (in losses at Pittsburgh and at home against Washington).

BRUINS STILL FIND ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

For two weeks and six game (5-0-1), the Boston Bruins have been sustaining their style of hard-skating, heavy-stick hockey, but coach Claude Julien knows exactly what he doesn’t want to see from his team no matter who they play next.

“Pretty simple, even though we’ve scored six goals (in three straight games) it doesn’t mean you’re playing a perfect game. There’s some areas that we still look at after games, and bring players in and show them (on video) different things that happened,” said Julien. “Anytime the other team gets scoring chances, there’s something that you’re not doing well so you’re always trying to improve yourself, and we’ve been pretty good not getting satisfied when those kind of things happen. Right now it’s not so much about worrying about that than continuing to bring the type of effort that we’ve brought the last little while.”

Tell-tale signs that the Bruins have run off the edge of the cliff like Wile E. Coyote and haven’t looked down yet before the sudden drop: “When you get outworked, right?” said Julien. “When guys start trying to get overly cute with their plays, now you’re seeing you’re team slip away from that. And it happens in short spurts of the game, and we just kind of reel them in from the bench area and guys have been pretty good at doing that like you saw in the third period of the last game. (Florida cut a 4-0 lead to 4-2, but the Bruins went pedal back to the metal and put it away, 6-2 final).”

SUBBAN WORTH THE RISK FOR HABS

P.K. Subban is the wild card in any hockey game he plays. The 2013 Norris Trophy winner leads Montreal in scoring coming into tonight’s game with 8-28-36 totals and a plus-4 rating. But until Tuesday’s 3-0 shutout win over Carolina, Subban had been minus-8 in his prior four. So Rink Rap asked Therrien how he coaches such a talented and spirited yet volatile player.

“It’s a challenge for a coach, there’s no doubt about that,” said Therrien. “And he’s a young defenseman (24) who could bring a lot to a hockey team. Because he’s young, there’s plays that we work with him. He’s making big strides compared to four years ago and three years ago and last year and this year again. He’s a young man that we work with him and make sure to try to bring his best every game. This is something — it’s fun for a coach to work with those type of athletes.”

As a former pro basketball player, Karl Subban gave his kids basketball and hockey. The daughters went on to star in hoops, but P.K. also dabbled. Considering his obvious athleticism, Rink Rap asked him if he could have easily become a point guard. “You know,” he said, laughing, “if I did play a position in basketball, it would probably be a point guard. I’ve always played basketball, pickup or with friends, and when I was growing up in high school I even played a little bit of school basketball. Yeah, but I never got too serious because hockey was always the main focus, right? But I always felt that I was one of the guys that could see the court really well, and I kind of compare it to hockey as a defenseman, being a quarterback, being able to see the ice. Whether it’s on the powerplay or even strength, I guess that’s where the creativity comes from. But a lot of similarities between basketball and hockey.”

Providence Bruins goaltender Malcolm Subban was a defenseman as a kid, but P.K. says he started off as a forward in hockey.

“But I was always back and forth, and at one point one time my dad said, ‘I think you should play defense,’ and I said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘If you become a good defenseman, they’re hard to come by. So, it’s a tough position, but it’s one of those positions where you see the play. Everything starts with you, and as a competitor and an athlete, you always want everything to start with yourself.”

CAN’T REPLACE SEIDENBERG

Matt Bartkowski has gotten progressively more sound in his game in the month since Dennis Seidenberg left the lineup with season-ending knee surgery but, beyond the unavoidable challenge of facing top-six forwards on a regular basis as the second-pair, left-side defenseman behind captain Zdeno Chara, Julien stressed that Bartkowski is not being asked to replicate Seidenberg’s impact on the game.

“If you’re going to lose an unbelievable penalty killer in Seidenberg, a guy who’s big, strong and makes it really hard on other teams to get to our net, then you don’t replace him with another player so we’re not asking Bart to do that,” said Julien. “But when you look at the way our team has played — and defensively we’ve been fairly sound — those guys on the back end have done a pretty good job. And that also includes (Kevan) Miller, who had to kind of take over (third pairing right side) with (Adam) McQuaid’s injury. In think, with our depth, we’ve handled it fairly well, and we’re going to continue to work with that group.”

Julien figures Bartkowski is naturally better since he’s playing more. The challenge is the competition once faces when they’re on the ice the second-most time on the team.

Is this a hint that the Bruins are thinking about standing pat past the deadline and going to the playoffs with Bartkowski in their top four? No question, when the kid hits his stride and plays a simple, aggressive, first-thought kind of game, he does a pretty good impression of the high-end, 5-on-5 defenseman. But the game is never that simple when a team reaches the type of competition it must go through to get where they really want to go, and this is the question that gets batted around in the conference room. Is Bartkowski’s puck-carrying acceleration and raw recovery speed enough to offset the learning curve that presents itself over and over again, every time the still-developing blue liner takes on a faster, more powerful, rangier or trickier player. History is not on his side. Grizzled veterans tend to be the one smiling widely when the season ends, unless their role is shielded by matchups and what they can offer their team far outweighs the risks of their deployment. The Bruins have that luxury with Torey Krug and with Kevan Miller or Dougie Hamilton (not both), and they definitely don’t have that luxury with Bartkowski. If the Bruins stand down on March 5, then Bartkowski goes from a guy who’s spotty season has gained momentum through forgivable mistakes to a guy who absolutely must bear the weight of his position with impeccable consistency, simply because the Bruins are otherwise in position to contend for the Stanley Cup.

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Blog Author

Mick Colageo

Mick Colageo grew up in East Walpole, Mass., skating on Coburn's Pond and at 4 Seasons Arena. He has been writing about hockey since 1986 and covering the Bruins since 1991, is a voting member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and ... Read Full